Zusammenfassung
In the past melanoma was considered intrinsically resistant to radiotherapy. In the last two decades radiotherapy was shown to be effective in the treatment of primary and recurrent tumors as well as in metastatic situations. This review is based on a PubMed search of the medical subject heading terms "radiotherapy and melanoma". Radiotherapy does not play an important role in the definitive ...
Zusammenfassung
In the past melanoma was considered intrinsically resistant to radiotherapy. In the last two decades radiotherapy was shown to be effective in the treatment of primary and recurrent tumors as well as in metastatic situations. This review is based on a PubMed search of the medical subject heading terms "radiotherapy and melanoma". Radiotherapy does not play an important role in the definitive treatment of cutaneous melanoma. An exception is medically inoperable patients with lentigo maligna, where definitive radiotherapy offers a treatment option with good local control rates. Postoperative radiotherapy reduces the risk of recurrence in patients with positive margins and in patients with desmoplastic melanoma and closed margins. Radiotherapy of the nodal basis should be considered in high-risk patients (size and number of involved nodes, extranodal spread, lymph node relapse). Palliative radiotherapy can effectively reduce the symptoms in patients with bone metastases. Local rdiosurgery should be preferred to whole brain radiotherapy. Radiotherapy may be simultaneously caombined with ipilimumab but should be combined with BRAF inhibitors only sequentially.
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